Conventionally, automatic vending machines that sell commodities such as beverages in cans or beverages in PET bottles are provided with a main body cabinet, which is the automatic vending machine main body. The main body cabinet is formed as a thermally insulated housing in the shape of a rectangular cuboid the front face of which is open. An external door and an internal door are provided at the front face of the main body cabinet and a commodity storage box is provided therein. The external door is for opening and closing the front face opening of the main body cabinet. The internal door is for opening and closing the front face of the commodity storage box. The commodity storage box has a thermally insulating construction, and a commodity-accommodating device and a rear face duct are provided therein.
The commodity-accommodating device vertically accommodates commodities that have been introduced thereinto, and dispenses the lowermost commodity when it receives a sell command. Commodities that have been dispensed by the commodity-accommodating device can be removed via a commodity removal port provided in the external door.
The rear face duct is provided at the rear face of the commodity storage box, and it is provided with an upper opening in a position corresponding to an upper region of the commodity-accommodating device, and is provided with a lower opening in a position corresponding to a lower portion of the commodity-accommodating device. An upper in-box blower fan is provided in front of the upper opening, and a lower in-box blower fan is provided in front of the lower opening. The rear face duct is also provided with an evaporator. The evaporator comprises cooling means which cool the air surrounding itself, and together with a compressor, condenser and the like which are provided outside the commodity storage box, constitutes a refrigeration cycle.
In such an automatic vending machine, if all of the commodities accommodated in the commodity-accommodating device are to be cooled then the upper in-box blower fan is driven. By this means air that has been introduced into the rear face duct via an inlet in the lower portion of said rear face duct is cooled by the evaporator and is discharged through the upper opening. The discharged air cools the commodities accommodated in the commodity-accommodating device by passing through said commodity-accommodating device in a downward direction, after which it is once again introduced into the rear face duct via the inlet, and circulates. On the other hand, if only some of the commodities accommodated in the commodity-accommodating device are to be cooled, then the lower in-box blower fan is driven. By this means air that has been introduced into the rear face duct via the inlet is cooled by the evaporator and is discharged through the lower opening. The discharged air cools the commodities accommodated in the lower portion of the commodity-accommodating device by passing through the lower portion of said commodity-accommodating device in a downward direction, after which it is once again introduced into the rear face duct via the inlet, and circulates (see for example patent literature article 1).